Fate So Cruel
by dreamoperator23
Summary: This is a multichapter Ulquihime fanfic.  Enjoy! :D
1. Chapter 1

He rapidly blinked as blinding light suddenly filled his world. How long had he been left alone in the darkness? _Was it long enough to forget all trace of color? _ he wondered to himself as he squinted around the white surroundings.

Now came a voice...faint at first but growing stronger as his hearing did.

"Free the rest of him from his bindings and then step away from him so I can get a good look. Ah...he is a strong one...I can feel how strong already..."

He tried to look up at that voice, but his vision was still blurry. Suddenly a dark mass filled his vision and the voice spoke again...much closer now.

"Welcome new one. How are you feeling? It must be quite disorientating to wake up again after such a long sleep. Can you speak yet?"

Speak? Ah yes...he opened his mouth and croaked out, "Where am I...Who are you?" His vision was beginning to clear well enough to see the man standing before him beaming down proudly.

"We'll have time for all your questions later, new one. For now though you only need to do two things. Receive your new name and..." The next was whispered close to his ear so only he could hear, "Tell me your deepest fear."

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Ulquiorra calmly stood by his door freshly clothed all in white and skin still sore from his new tattoo waiting to be summoned by the one who brought him here...Aizen. He did not have to wait long. Soon two arrancar that were clearly servants came to fetch him. Ulquiorra could sense their low reiatsu fluttering about him as they flanked him and took him to the throne room. As he entered he could feel the pressure of many beings with extremely high reiatsu enveloping him before he saw their forms. He did not glance about to see who was in the room with him...his eyes were locked on the only person in the room that mattered.

"Ulquiorra Schiffer. My Cuatro Espada. Are you not pleased with all you have been given?"

"I am, Aizen-sama." Ulquiorra intoned, head bowed.

"Will you serve me with all your body, heart, and mind?" Aizen asked him from his throne.

"All I have is yours, Aizen-sama. Do with me what you will."

He could feel Aizen beaming down on him again, but did not raise his head to look. He was content to stay as he was til instructed otherwise.

"Rise and meet your brothers and sister."

Ulquiorra looked up and slowly turned around to survey them with his emotionless eyes. They all looked back at him...some curious, some jealous, some disinterested. Then he turned back to Aizen and said, "I see them Aizen-sama. You have made a mighty army from ten. I know of no other man that can make the same boast."

Aizen smiled down at him again and said, "You may go now, my Numero Cuatro. I'll summon you in here whenever I have need of you."

Ulquiorra deeply bowed again and then walked from the room ignoring the stares he could feel on his back as he exited. He wasn't but two steps from his door when he felt someone quickly step up behind him. Ulquiorra stopped at his door, but didn't turn around. He could tell it was the Sexta Espada just by the size of his spiritual pressure.

"Soooooo...great trick you pulled there with Aizen! I wish I would have thought of it!"

Ulquiorra turned around at that and found himself face to chest with a blue-haired arrancar in rumpled clothes. "What do you mean?" Ulquiorra quietly asked.

"The way you all buttered him up with all that talk. I wish I had thought of that! But you know me! I'm honest to the bone! I ain't going to lie and present myself other than what I really am to get favorable attention!" the arrancar mocked.

"What you assume of me is false. I too presented my true self to Aizen-sama, to do with what he will."

"See! There you go with that shit again! You can drop it out here you know! No one is going to hear you!"

Ulquiorra just stood and quietly observed him.

"Argh! There is no use trying to talk to you! Aizen was a fool to make such a spineless wuss so high in his ranks! He should have made you a servant or tossed you out to be target practice like he does with all the other defects!" And with that the arrancar quickly spun on his heel and disappeared from sight.

Ulquiorra sighed and turned to his door and pushed it open to his lavish rooms. Everything Aizen had given him was indeed nice, but such niceties mattered little to Ulquiorra. There were only two things he wanted and Aizen had promised him one. That was enough for Ulquiorra. With what Aizen had promised him, he would have the time to achieve his other desire.


	2. Chapter 2

_Are you not pleased with all you have been given?_ Aizen's voice asked inside his head again as Ulquiorra carefully poked his left eye, observing it in his mirror. Ulquiorra had told his new master that all that he had was to be possessed and used and it seems that Aizen-sama had taken him on his word. _Am I ready to give him all of my experiences too?_ Ulquiorra thought to himself as he winced in pain and withdrew his finger from his eye.

"All that I have is for Aizen-sama. He has promised to give me what I thought was ungivable and I believe that he will. For just that one thing I will give him whatever he wants of me." Ulquiorra quietly reassured himself. There came a soft knock on his door and Ulquiorra turned away from the mirror and answered, "Come in."

A servant slowly opened his door, head bowed. "Aizen-sama has need of you, Numero Cuatro."

"Yes. Tell him I am coming now." Ulquiorra told the servant. After the servant departed, Ulquiorra glanced at himself in the mirror one last time and mentally prepared himself. This was the first time Aizen had called him since he had been born into this world. After he had given the servant enough head start to inform Aizen of his arrival, Ulquiorra left his rooms and followed the twisting hallways to Aizen's throne room.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Ulquiorra." Aizen called down to him as Ulquiorra approached the dias.

Ulquiorra didn't have to look around to know that he was here alone with Aizen. He bowed his head and asked, "What would you have of me master?"

"I want anyone that is a threat to my plans to be eliminated. We will deal with Earth first since the number of souls there that could oppose us are so few. With some it is even questionable that they could oppose us at all, but it is better to be thorough. I want you to seek out a boy of fifteen that lives in a place called Kurakara. You will be able to find him, not only by his relatively high reiatsu but because he has orange hair and wields a black bankai. I want you to observe him. If he is a threat, kill him. That is all. You will leave at once."

"I will do as you ask, Aizen-sama." Ulquiorra answered him, head still bowed. He walked out of the throne room intending to go to a place where it was safe to open a garganta, but was stopped right outside the door by a huge Espada named Yammy.

"I heard what Aizen had to say to you. It sounds like a great place to test out some of our powers and abilities, don't ya think?" Yammy asked him casually leaning against the stone wall.

Ulquiorra turned to him and said, "Aizen-sama's orders were for me to go alone."

"Aw, come on! I'm sick of sittin' around this place with nothing to do all day. Aizen never gives me anything interestin' to do." Yammy whined above him.

Ulquiorra suppressed a sigh and said, "You can come. We are leaving now though. Follow me."

Once the dimensional hole was opened and Ulquiorra could see the bright green park below, he felt his first stir of real upset since being awakened by Aizen. As he watched children running to and fro and adults sitting on benches chatting and eating their lunch a long buried and long remembered hatred began to fill him. There was something even deeper beneath the anger as well, but Ulquiorra refused to give name to it, or even allow himself to feel it.

"Are you just going to stand there lookin' all day?! Let's get on with it!" Yammy voiced behind him annoyed.

"It has been a long time since I have seen the world and the people who live there. I can't wait til Aizen destroys it all. It sickens me just to look at it," Ulquiorra quietly answered him as he stepped through and into the human world. The moment he did so he could feel all of their weak soul pressure battening around him, filling his senses and awakening something else that he had long forgotten...hunger. "Come, Yammy. Let's go down to earth." Ulquiorra commanded and then dropped down into the park.

Once he was down on the ground he immediately began searching the gathering crowd for the boy that would fit Aizen's description.

"What are we here for again, Ulquiorra?" Yammy asked surveying the crowd with growing annoyance.

"We are here to find a fifteen year old boy with orange hair and a black bankai and kill him if need be." Ulquiorra answered still observing the people surrounding them and the crater they had made with their drop.

"Well let's go get him and get this over with. I had forgotten how stupid and boring the human world is. Hey! Why are all these idiots staring at us anyway! Get away you!" Yammy yelled batting at the crowd.

"They cannot see or hear you, Yammy. You are wasting your time and energy. Help me look for the boy."

"Well, it's annoyin' though! I'll teach them to annoy Yammy!" And with that Yammy sucked in his breath long and hard and the people standing around them began to drop. After all the people in the park were on the ground dead, Yammy stopped sucking in his breath and instantly began to retch. "Ugh! That tasted nasty!" he said while dry heaving on the ground.

"I don't know what else you expected, Yammy. Their souls were too weak to have any flavor to them." Ulquiorra informed him looking around at the now dead people lying on the ground to see if the boy was among them. As he did movement caught his eye and he walked out of the crater and over to the figure struggling to get up.

"Wow! I guess my gonzui didn't work on this one!" Yammy exclaimed behind him. "You must have some spritual power around in ya somewhere, huh?" he asked the figure trembling on the ground. "Hey Ulquiorra! Is this who we're lookin' for?"

"Does that look like an orange hair boy to you?" Ulquiorra asked him irritably looking at the black-haired girl on the ground. "Don't waste your time dealing with trash."

"She's trash then? Yay! I'm going to squash her flat then!" Yammy yelled happily as he raised his foot. Yet before he could bring it down on the girl two figures ran up and intervened. The strong boy with his arm clad in some sort of spiritual armor stopped Yammy's attack and the red-haired girl went to the one lying on the ground. The red-haired girl...she was now trying to help the other get up and escape...she was now...

"ULQUIORRA!"

The scream reverberated through his head and drove out all thoughts of the red-haired girl. "Are these two trash as well?!" Yammy asked now excited that there were actually interesting people around to play with and kill.

"Yes." Ulquiorra answered disturbed by the way his heart skipped a beat as he said so.

"ALRIGHT!" Yammy yelled and then punched the boy full force. That caused the red-haired girl to lay her friend back down and run to the boy.

"Sado-kun!" she yelled distressed.

Yammy excited by the prospect of getting two for the price of one struck out again at the two figures on the ground, but suddenly a bright shield flared up around the two. It shattered instantly at Yammy's touch, but the teens were unharmed beneath it. The the girl placed a similar bright shield around the boy and Ulquiorra couldn't believe what he was seeing. The boy's arm was repairing itself...no wait...this was more complete than just healing or repairing would have been. His arm seemed to be returning completely to the state it was in before Yammy struck it. Ulquiorra was amazed. He tried to catch the girl's eyes with his own, but her attention was focused on Yammy.

"You are a very unique human aren't you, woman?" he quietly asked her, but still she didn't turn her attention to him.

As he looked at the girl he noticed how her shining shield reflected its light in her hair. He noticed her determined look and stance, though anyone could see that it was folly for her to stand up to one such as Yammy. Yammy turned to him and asked, "Should we bring her back to Aizen so he can discover what makes such power possible? I'm sure I can save enough of her for him to investigate when I am through with her!"

"No, Yammy. There is no need for us to bring her back to Aizen. It isn't in our orders. Kill her."


	3. Chapter 3

Ulquiorra laid his head back on his bed trying to ignore the throbbing pain that had replaced the space where his left eye used to be. His mission was accomplished, the boy observed and found wanting, and his report given to Aizen. He should be able to relax now, but his mind remained a stir of half understood thoughts and feelings. Why had that girl caught his attention so? Why had he felt a twinge of relief when the boy they had been looking for arrived just in time to stop Yammy's attack on her? Ulquiorra sighed and turned his head on his pillows. He was now facing his reflection in the mirror. He tried not to wince at the gaping and bleeding hole that stared back at him.

"Why do I care anyway?" he quietly asked himself. One would hope that three life spans spent as a hollow would be enough to finally irradicate all instances of caring. It had been for a while. As a full hollow Ulquiorra had felt little beyond an insatiable hunger the few times he had ventured to Earth. All that had changed now that he had been altered so radically, so fundamentally by Aizen. Emotions that he no longer even had names for had begun to awaken themselves in him again. He hated them...he hated feeling weak and driven by them. Oh, how he desired to be a being of perfect logic and thought and no more. Maybe one day Aizen would find a way to evolve him again and that desire would finally be satisfied.

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Orihime hummed prettily to herself as she stirred the pot on her small stove. She was in a fairly good mood considering all that she had been through today. She had been healed of her injuries and had then been instructed by Yourichi to go home and rest. And rested she had...and now she was ravenously hungry. As she removed the pot from the stove she said to herself, "Well it is no wonder that is was a good day considering really. Besides Chad, no one was hurt too seriously and I healed him. Tatsuki was OK after she was removed from the presence of those monsters as well. And Ichigo came, just like I knew he would. He will never let me down." She smiled at that thought and sat down to eat her supper.

Later that night as she rested on the couch doing a cross-stitch piece, she heard someone knocking at her door. She laid her handwork down and got up to answer it. "Kuchiki-san! What a nice surprise!" Orihime said to the small figure outside her door.

"How are you doing tonight, Inoue?" Rukia asked as Orihime let her in.

"Oh...I'm just peachy! Whatever Yourichi gave me really helped...that and the fact that I have such a hard head." she giggled to herself as she went into the kitchen to make Rukia some tea.

"Matsumoto has been really worried about you lately, Inoue. Captain Hitsugaya as well, though getting him to admit it would be like pulling teeth from bird. Are you still upset at what Urahara said to you about staying out of the coming battles?" Rukia gently asked her from the couch.

Orihime wiped at the tears forming in her eyes and answered, "A little...yes Kuchiki-san." She brought the two steaming cups into the living room and set them down on the table in front of Rukia.

"I believe there is no reason for you not to be able to fight with us, Inoue. Tsubaki is back to his restored and grumpy self and I think it will take nothing but just practice to get you ready to stand with us in the winter war." Rukia said carefully sipping at her tea. She placed her cup back down and looked at Orihime square in the eye. "In fact I have taken it upon myself to be the one to train you. That is if you would have me, Inoue."

"Oh! Kuchiki-san! Yes! Yes! You don't know how much this means to me!" Orihime exclaimed jumping up from her chair and enveloping Rukia in a tight hug. "Thank you so much!" she whispered to the startled, but happy shinigami.

After Rukia had taken her leave, Orihime dressed for bed barely able to contain her soaring heart. She just knew she would become much stronger and adept with Rukia by her side lending her all of her knowledge! And just to think! She wouldn't have to be protected by Ichigo anymore! She could stand by his side helping him fight instead of behind him being a liability to him. Then maybe his eyes would finally see her and light up the way they did when he saw Rukia.

As she lay in her bed heart all aglow she dreamed a beautiful fantasy that deepened into a real dream as she sunk down towards sleep. In it Ichigo would look at her amazed by her abilities and determination to stand with him no matter the monsters sent against them. He would take her into his arms and whisper in her ear, "I was just a fool not to see it before Inoue, but you are the most beautiful girl in all of the worlds, both the living and the dead." Then he would oh so gently place his lips on hers for her very first kiss and what a kiss it would be! She trembled and sighed happily at that beautiful thought unaware that she was being measured, analyzed, and found intriguing in a place so dark her heart couldn't imagine it.

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And here was Ulquiorra, left eye now restored and ready to record all that he saw and did yet again, before Aizen's throne.

"This girl that you saw in the human world, she is quite fascinating is she not?" Aizen asked him motioning to the image that played above the shattered remains of his previous eye.

Ulquiorra's insides dropped just a touch at that question and her image but he calmly intoned, "Yes. I believe she is actually reversing time when she heals people. A godlike power for sure. I have never seen it's like before."

Aizen tapped his thumb against his lips and quietly repeated, "A godlike power..." while studying her image. He then turned to Ulquiorra again and announced, "I want to study this power of hers more fully. I need time to prepare for her though. You will take this girl from the human world and bring her here exactly one month from now. You can take who you want with you and you can plan things however you wish, just get her here. You have my faith that you will do well my Numero Cuatro. You may leave me now."

Ulquiorra bowed and then quickly left the throne room quite aware and distressed at all the feelings that Aizen's order to him were bringing to the surface. He angrily buried them deep and began thinking out his plan to kidnap the girl.


	4. Chapter 4

"That's it, Inoue. Focus all of your spiritual energy into a tight beam and then send that through Tsubaki as you project him." Rukia instructed as Orihime aimed with complete concentration. The little ninja sailed through the air and completely split the huge bolder he was aimed at in two. "Very good, Inoue! I can feel how controlled and tempered your reiatsu is. You've improved so much this past month."

Orihime glowingly smiled at the shinigami that had become a very close friend during these past few weeks. Tsubaki flew back and dematerialized into her hair pin again sending a little shudder of energy through her body. "I couldn't have done it without you, Kuchiki-san." Orihime said hugging her friend tightly.

Rukia hugged her back and the pulled away saying, "I believe we have some time to take a break. Why don't we go join Captain Ukitake for a bit and chat." Rukia motioned to the figure sitting up on the hill watching and Orihime nodded happily. They were almost to him when a messenger ran up to the captain clearly out of breath.

"Captain Ukitake, sir!" the man panted out. "There has been an attack again on Kurakara...Aizen's minions again...really strong ones this time!"

"Oh! Kuchiki-san!" Orihime gasped looking worriedly at her. "Do you think Kurosaki-kun..."

"We will go help him, Inoue." Rukia confidently told her. "I will go to him at once. You go through the passageway that leads to the living world and meet us once you are back in Kurakara."

"Ok, Kuchiki-san." Orihime tried to suppress the bit of jealousy that rose in her heart at the thought of Rukia getting to Ichigo and helping him before she could. She looked to the captain who was now instructing the messenger to relay his message to Kotsubaki and Kotetsu as well.

"Come with me, Inoue. I will take you to the passageway, but I won't be able to go with you any farther." Ukitake informed her as he laboriously stood up.

"It's OK, Captain. I know my way." Orihime said as she quickly followed him down the hill.

"Oh we would never let you leave here unprotected, Inoue. Your guards will meet us there."

Orihime thought about telling him that she didn't need any protecting anymore, wasn't she going to go back to the living world to fight against these monstrously strong hollows? She looked over at the Captain who was starting to wheeze and was obviously distressed at the news and decided to hold her tongue. Once they reached the portal Captain Ukitake turned her over to the two waiting shinigami and then hurried off to his own duties.

"You guys really don't have to accompany me. I can take care of myself and I know there are more important things to do right now." Orihime told them running through the stone tunnel.

"It would shameful for us to let a respected guest leave Soul Society alone." one of them informed her as he kept easy pace with her. Orihime decided not to waste her breath arguing anymore since the end of the tunnel was now in sight. Just when she was almost there and out into the human world a rip opened in the fabric of space directly before her and a involuntary cry was wrenched from her throat when she saw what was coming through. Before he even seemed to be out of the hole completely she saw the guard to her right suddenly fall down, half of his body disintegrated.

"I have business with you, woman." the small figure before her intoned without emotion, his hand dripping with blood and gore.

Orihime quickly threw her shield onto the dying soul reaper on the ground and yelled, "Ok, Ok! Do anything you want with me! Just don't hurt anyone else! PLEASE!" From her left she saw a movement flicker across her eye and knew that the other soul reaper was going for the arrancar before her. "NO!" she screamed to the shinigami. "Get out of here now!" But all of her pleas and cries fell on deaf ears and soon her other guard was lying on the ground to, again with only half of his body left. She enlarged her shield to to encompass his body too and then turned to glare at the monster before her. Hatred and terror warred in her heart and it didn't make for a very palatable feeling.

"You will come with me now. You will say no more to me besides "yes". If any other word comes out of your mouth I will kill all of your friends."

Orihime trembled and felt tears forming in her eyes, yet she still stayed her ground. She didn't want to go with this monster anywhere after what he just did. She noticed that his expression almost imperceptibly changed and then he said, "Don't make me say it again, woman." And that did it. Terror won out in her heart, not for her really, but for her friends...for Ichigo. She thought of Ichigo with half his body blown away and she nodded at the hollow.

"Yes."

"Then I will give you this." he told her and held out his hand. Orihime was loathe to take anything he had to offer, but what choice did she have? She put her hand out and he dropped a bracelet into it. It was so unexpected, she wasn't sure what he was going to give her but any sort of jewelry was the last thing on her mind, that she gasped when it fell into her small hand. "Put it on now and I will let you stay in the human world for twelve hours to get your affairs in order. During that time you will be unseen and unheard by all but us arrancar. You can say goodbye to ONE person. Any more and you will have broken the rules." He stood waiting and she realized he was waiting for her to put the bracelet on. She slipped it on her wrist and a gentle warmth flooded her body and that was it. She sure didn't look or feel invisible, but she supposed that she was. "Do not take it off. Meet me here in exactly twelve hours." And with that he opened another hole and stepped through not looking back once.

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After his troops had been gathered and brought back to Hueco Mundo Ulquiorra retired to his rooms and spent his time there nervously pacing the floor. Images of the girl and her doings constantly filled his brain now thanks to the mental link that the bracelet had given him. He knew that every other arrancar in the palace and Aizen, Gin, and Tousen had the exact same images in their heads, but still it felt...intimate...too intimate. He didn't like it. He didn't like to see that the first thing she did after he left her was to burst into tears. He didn't like to see that though she quickly got herself under control those tears never left her face even after she had gone home and made notes for her house guests. He also knew what his orders were if she took off the bracelet and severed the link even for a moment. No wonder he was so nervous.

Now she finally looked up from her notepad that she had been writing in (Ulquiorra had read all she had written to make sure they weren't pleas for help for her shinigami friends) and stood up. He heard her mumbling to herself about who to see and then she got her sweater and left her apartment. He idly wondered who she chose to say goodbye to as he watched her walk the dark streets of her town. Would it be that soul reaper she had spent so much time training with this past month? Maybe it would be that girl she had been helping in the park that day. He had seen her visit the apartment often. He saw then that she had stopped in front of a house that was half medical clinic. She looked at it a moment, undecided and then walked straight through the front door without opening it. He watched as she silently climbed the stairs, all the sleeping occupants unaware that there was an intruder in their house. She peeked her head into each room upstairs obviously lost as to which one she wanted. That was strange...whomever it was she wanted to say goodbye to was someone she didn't know well enough to have visited their house before. She must have finally found the right one because she stepped through the closed door and Ulquiorra could see the inside of a boy's bedroom. Two little girls were asleep on the floor and the boy (THE boy, Ulquiorra noticed and was suddenly angry at himself for not killing him like Aizen had instructed) was asleep in his bed.

Orihime approached the bed and suddenly her bright yellow shield lit up the room as she placed it over the injured boy. He heard her mumbling to him, but it was hard to make out her words though Ulquiorra certainly tried to hear what she was saying. Then her shield winked out, the boy obviously healed and the room went dark again. Still he was able to see her nervously look around and then oh so slowly lean down to the sleeping figure. Suddenly Ulquiorra didn't want to see anymore and desperately wished for a way to close his eyes to the image before him, but he saw all anyway. She paused just above his face clearly wanting to kiss him, but being unable to. She quickly raised up, hand wiping at her eyes and then she left the room. Ulquiorra knew it was time for her to come again to where he was to meet her and went out to open his garganta so he could be waiting for her.

He didn't have to wait long and when he saw her approach he tried not to wince at the hatred that filled her eyes when she saw him. She took off her bracelet and practically threw it at him and stood there waiting to leave. Ulquiorra wanted to say something to her...maybe how he was glad that she followed the rules so closely...but nothing would come out. So he pocketed the bracelet, turned around and opened the hole again that would take them home...home to Hueco Mundo.


	5. Chapter 5

Orihime shivered and hugged her new dress around herself. Why is it so cold here if it is a desert? she wondered to herself. She paced around her cell again. The room wasn't so bad if you ignored the barred window and huge stone door. The rest of it was nicely appointed with lavish white and cream rugs, comfortable white couches and a huge white bed. "It could sure use some color though", Orihime said to herself as she spun in a circle in the middle. Her dressed flared out around her puffy pants and she looked down at her new outfit. "I could use some color too." she told her herself as she spread the white skirt wide with her arms. I wonder if my skin and hair will turn white if I stay here long enough? she giggled to herself. I wonder if that is why his skin is white? Suddenly Orihime didn't feel like laughing any more.

She began pacing her room again quite at a loss with what to do with herself. She hadn't been allowed to take anything from home and there was nothing in her room to amuse herself with. Obviously Las Noches was not a palace set up for entertaining. She wondered if the hollows had TVs and things like that in their rooms. Did the hollows even HAVE rooms? Or did they sleep all together in a room full of cocoons? Did they even sleep? She hoped that they had given her a kind guard...well maybe KIND was expecting a bit much...maybe she would be OK with just a talkative one. Then she could ask it all her questions. She hadn't seen anyone at all since the arrancar who kidnapped her brought her to her cell last night. He had tonelessly instructed her to put the clothes on that were on her bed and with that he had gone. She had waited until she was sure that he was far enough away to not hear and then sat down at her small white table and had a good cry. Then she had felt a little better and had put on the white garments, neatly folded her own clothes and put them on the table and then she had laid down on the soft bed and had promptly gone to sleep. Then she had woken up this morning sure that someone would be sent in to check on her, give her orders, give her food, or heck...just make sure she hadn't died in her cell in the night, but no one had come yet.

Then she had a scary thought. Hollows don't eat food, do they? What if they forget that I need food? What if they don't have any food to give me? She almost started to panic at that, but forced herself to think things through calmly. These were the hollows Aizen had made, which means he would have to be in the palace somewhere and she knew that he had to eat along with Gin and Tousen. Her breathing calmed at that thought and she began pacing her cell again. When she got tired of that she went and looked out over the barren and unchanging landscape of Hueco Mundo that her small window showed her. Soon she was lost deep in her own thoughts and didn't hear when the door quietly opened behind her.

"You look nice dressed like that."

Orihime gave a little scream in surprise and whirled around to see the black-haired hollow who had taken her standing in her doorway. "What are YOU doing here!?" she yelled at it.

"Aizen-sama has ordered me to take care of you so you will be healthy and capable of performing your duties whenever he has need of you. You must be hungry, no?" He turned out into the hall and said, "Come." A servant wheeled a cart laden with trays into her room. Her stomach audibly growled when she smelled the delicious smells that came from under the lids.

"No, I'm not hungry. Take it all away and tell Aizen that I want a different guard. I'll eat then." she told him with what she hoped looked like defiance instead of fear which is what she felt more.

"Listen, woman. You are in no position to make demands of anyone...least of all Aizen-sama. You will eat or I will restrain you and force the food down your throat."

"Fine! But will you at least leave and let me eat in peace?" she asked the unmoving figure next to her door.

"I had intended to do so when I first came in, but since you have now made it abundantly clear that you do not want to eat I need to stay here to make sure you don't throw your food out the window."

Orihime sighed, realizing she had brought this upon herself with her little outburst. As she took the first tray and brought it to her little table and sat down she heard the hollow quietly telling the servant to leave them and shut the door. She shivered at the thought of being locked up in this room alone with him. She quickly started shoveling food in her mouth hoping to get done really soon so that he would leave.

"Hey! Hey now! Slow down. I don't need you choking on my watch!"

Orihime looked up and noticed that he was standing right next to her and she shivered. Cold seemed to come off of him in waves...the same cold that made up Hueco Mundo, but concentrated into a single being. She closed her eyes, concentrated and searched out his reiatsu. When she finally felt it, she almost DID choke. The strength of its pressure was overpowering, she felt as though she was being smothered beneath it and so she quickly released her concentration and went back to eating stealing a glance or two at him from under her lashes. She now had no doubt that he could have made good on his threat of killing her friends. They wouldn't have stood a chance against him.

She started again eating her eggs as quickly as possible without it seeming like she was going to choke on them. When she had eaten the whole plate full, she was full and told the hollow so. "I really don't have to eat all the food you brought do I? It's SO much!"

"You have eaten enough." he answered her. "Honestly, I had forgotten how much food a human eats at a time so I just had the servant send a platter of everything so I would be sure you had enough."

Orihime didn't know quite what to make of that statement or the sadness that it stirred inside of her. How long HAD it been since he was human himself? He was human once wasn't he? What else had he forgotten? Orihime vigorously shook her head and told herself silently that was a dangerous road to take. He was a monster and if she ever needed reminding of that fact again all she had to do was remember what he had done to her two guards that were just trying to protect her. To think of him as anything more would soften her and she needed to be strong if she was going to survive here...strong and hard like the monsters that ran the place.

So she got up and turned her back to him and looked back out her window and waited for him to leave. She felt him linger on for a moment more and then he said, "I'll have a servant come remove your trays. I will be back tonight with more food for your supper." And with that he left and Orihime couldn't hold back the sigh of relief that came at his departure.


	6. Chapter 6

She had been here only three days and Ulquiorra had already gotten use to her presence. He visited her in her cell twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening to bring her food and make sure she was staying healthly. So far she seemed pretty healthy to Ulquiorra. She certainly had the strength of body and mind to glare at him angrily every time he entered her room. He tried not to let it bother him and stood quietly next to the door ignoring her hatred. To be honest he wasn't really sure what she hated him for. Sure he had been the one that had taken her from her friends and home, but if she would just think about things logically she would realize that it was really Aizen that brought her here, not him. Ulquiorra was really no more than a glorified servant himself, it was Aizen that ran the show around here. Ah...and why did he care again that she hated him? He tried to think it through. Well if she didn't hate him then his duties to her would be easier to bear, but why was that? Why should her feelings towards him affect his duties at all. It wasn't as though she had been insubordinate or difficult since that first morning when she said she wouldn't eat. She actually just took the food (properly proportioned now), ate it, and then waited for him to leave. It was the easiest job in all of _Las Noches_ really...so why was it so hard?

Ulquiorra calmly smoothed the front of his jacket down with his hand and then went to Aizen. It was time for him to give his first report of the girl's well-being and adjustment. As he entered Aizen's presence he bowed and waited on his master to speak.

"It pleases me to see you, Ulquiorra. Now tell me, how is our little goddess doing?"

Ulquiorra raised up and said, "She seems to be doing well to me Aizen-sama, though it has been long since I have observed human behavior and I may be mistaken. She eats everything I give her though and she doesn't look any different from what she looked like when she first arrived. I have assumed that those are good signs, Aizen-sama."

"Good. Very good. Have you been ensuring her loyalty to us as well, Ulquiorra?" Aizen asked him gently.

"Ah...yes, Aizen-sama. I have done all that I can to show her that it is in her best interests to serve you." Ulquiorra answered.

"I trust that whatever methods you are using won't cause too much physical harm, right?"

Ulquiorra almost choked at that question, but calmly replied, "My methods do not cause physical harm, Aizen-sama. I don't think they will cause too much psychological harm either."

He heard Aizen chuckling a little at that and then he said, "Well I trust you to use the most unharmful discipline on her out of all my Espada, but I know I can only expect so much when dealing with beings such as yourself. I shudder to think what Noitora or Szayel would have done with her."

Aizen paused for a moment at that, clearly thinking. Ulquiorra calmly stood and waited for Aizen to tell him what to do next. "I think she has had enough time to adjust to her new life here. I want her brought to this room tonight so I can see her powers first hand. You may leave now, my Numero Cuatro, I will see you tonight."

"Yes, Aizen-sama." Ulquiorra quietly said and then left the throne room.

Later that night Ulquiorra stood in her room watching her finish her dinner. When she was done she stood up to let him know she was done and then went to the window waiting for him to leave.

"You have been summoned by Aizen-sama to show him what you are capable of tonight. We leave at once." Ulquiorra quietly informed her.

"You could have given me a little more warning, you know." she told him, clearly uneasy.

"What for?" Ulquiorra honestly asked.

"Well, I don't know...so I could mentally prepare or something."

Ulquiorra, who understood all about the need to mentally prepare for things, nodded at her and said, "Next time I will make sure to give you more notice, but that is not tonight. Come."

He swept from her room not looking back, confident that she would follow him. As he took her through the palace hallways he was very aware of her presence next to him. It was hard not to look over at her, but he determinedly kept his eyes on the path ahead. A few other arrancar were in the hallways too and he sensed them looking at her, Aizen's new play toy, and he sensed the dark thoughts behind their eyes. She must have sensed them too, because amazingly she saddled up closer to him as though for protection. When they entered the throne room Ulquiorra noticed that the room was filled with hollows, from the nine other Espada all the way down to the servants that were serving them. It seemed as though Aizen wanted everyone in the palace in on tonight's "entertainment". He glanced over at the girl hoping that she wasn't too scared at her first real look at what lived with her in the palace. She seemed OK though, at least she hadn't fainted or anything.

"Welcome to my home, Orihime Inoue." Aizen called down to her from his throne which was now flanked by two others that held the other two former soul reapers. "It was so nice of you to come and visit us for a while." A few titters of amusement echoed through the room at that statement. "Now don't be shy. Come here, child. As long as you do what I ask, you have nothing to fear."

Ulquiorra watched as she slowly approached the dias. Once she was before him Aizen called out, "Bring out the one that needs healing!"

Ulquiorra heard a disgruntled shout from the back of the room. "I don't NEED to be brought out like some infirm. I can make it on my own!" He then saw Grimmjow come into view with his punishment he had suffered at Tousen's hands clear for all to see in his lack of an arm. He then went up to the girl and stood in front of her. She nervously looked up at Aizen.

"Heal him, Orihime. Give him back his arm." Aizen ordered her.

"Hey! Wait! What is this shit?!" came an angry protest. "His arm was disintegrated! There is no WAY that little bitch can bring it back!" Ulquiorra didn't have to look behind him to know that it was the now current Sexta Espada that was protesting. He watched as Luppi came up to the front of the dias as well, clearly seething.

"Just wait and watch, Luppi." Aizen told him and then all eyes were on the girl. She very nervously walked up to Grimmjow and then placed her bright shield around where his arm used to be. Ulquiorra idly wondered what that shield would feel like. Would it be warm? Would it tingle? And then all idle thoughts were driven from his mind because here now a miracle was taking place. As he watched he could actually see Grimmjow's arm materializing and then reforming again. It didn't take long and when it was done her shield winked out and Grimmjow pumped his new arm up into the air with triumph.

"Hey you! Heal this too!" he happily commanded her as he turned his now unadorned back to her. She nervously glanced up at Aizen and he quickly nodded at her. She placed her shield on the arrancar's back and almost instantly his Espada tattoo appeared again. "Hell yeah!" Grimmjow shouted. "Hey Luppi! Eat this!" And with that Grimmjow impaled his replacement on his new arm. He let the other hollow twitch there for a moment and then a bright light enveloped Luppi's body and then he was gone. Ulquiorra sighed and turned away and looked for the girl. She had been standing right in front of Grimmjow and was now deathly pale and sweating. He noticed that she had been quite forgotten in the excitement of the murder.

He walked up to her and looked up at Aizen. He wanted to ask Aizen if it was OK to take her back to her cell now, but he had never asked anything of Aizen before and couldn't quite get it out. Luckily Aizen saw him and shouted above the noise of the crowd, "She has performed well tonight. You can take her back now, Ulquiorra."

He told her to follow him and she did, eyes still huge and frightened. As they walked back through the quiet hallways, Ulquiorra's mind was a buzz with things he wanted to say to her, but he didn't quite know which one to say. Should he tell her not to worry because that is how things always went on here in _Las Noches_? No...that would probably just scare her more. Should he tell her not to worry because he wouldn't let that happen to her? Even more stupid, it wasn't up to Ulquiorra what happened to the girl. So in the end he just kept his silence and when they came to her door he let her in and then locked it behind her.


	7. Chapter 7

Orihime was lonely. As a naturally sweet and friendly person, she had often spent a lot of time with her friends before she had been taken from her home. Now she spent long and lonely hours sitting in her cell with nothing to do or no one to talk to. Her thoughts often returned to the horrifying scene she had seen in Aizen's throne room two weeks earlier. She tried to chase those thoughts away with good thoughts of Ichigo, but she found that his face didn't have quite the permanence in her thoughts that she thought it would. And so it wasn't too surprising when she finally broke down and tried to talk to the only person she ever saw anymore...her guard, Ulquiorra. She didn't like to use his name though. It gave him...personality...and as a hollow personality was something that he neither had nor deserved. She was so lonely though.

Orihime poked the remains of her dinner around on her plate and looked up at the arrancar. She wondered if he ever got impatient standing there while she ate. She didn't think he did. She had a feeling that he would be content to calmly stand in one place for the rest of time if that was what was required of him.

"There is never anything to do here." she sighed poking a half eaten piece of fish. "What do hollows do for fun?" she asked hoping that he would give her an idea to keep her mind and hands occupied during the long hours she spent alone.

The arrancar looked at her with his expressionless green eyes for a moment before tonelessly answering, "I don't think it is something we should discuss. I doubt it would be anything you found enjoyable anyway."

Orihime thought back once again to the brutal murder she had seen take place right in front of her and how the other hollows in the room had cheered. She had a feeling that was what they did for entertainment and she was lucky that she was hidden away from them everyday so she didn't have to see. She looked at her guard again and wondered if he found slaughter enjoyable as well. He just looked back at her impassively and she shuddered and looked down at her plate again. Then he spoke to her and she jumped a little. He had never spoken to her before except to give her the few commands he needed to.

"If you had something to do during the day, would it help keep you healthy?" he asked her.

Orihime looked at him amazed and stammered out, "Y...yes. I think it would help keep my mind healthy anyway. I have been having terrible dreams of late because I dwell on bad thoughts all day long."

"OK."

And that was it. He didn't say anything else the rest of the time he was there and Orihime wasn't sure what to say back to him. When she was done eating he called for the servant to gather her tray and then left her.

She lay down on her bed wondering what he was going to do. Would he bring her something to do or would he try to entertain her himself? The thought of her guard trying to do anything entertaining brought a giggle to lips. It felt really good to laugh she realized. When was the last time she had laughed? Not since being brought here for sure, and so she tried to imagine him doing silly things to amuse her such as singing her a song. Soon she was rolling on her bed trying to suppress the wild laughter that was bubbling over in her. Finally when she had gone through all the things she could think of (ending with the hollow standing on his head with his jacket in his face) her giggles finally subsided and she fell asleep untroubled by nightmares for the first time in days.

--------------------

Ulquiorra asked himself for the fiftieth time just what exactly was he doing here. He stared at the girl's apartment before him across the street from where he had entered the living world. Almost instantly hunger started to knaw at his insides. He quickly strode across the street and walked into her apartment. As he looked around trying to find things that humans used for amusement (which was harder than Ulquiorra had expected, because not only had he forgotten a lot of what humans liked to do for fun, objects of entertainment had sure changed a lot from when he was alive) he logically thought through why exactly he was doing this. He had noticed that the last few days he had visited the girl in her cell that she had begun to look different from when he had first brought her to Hueco Mundo. Not only was she paler (which was to expected since she spent all of her time indoors now), but her cheeks were no longer pink and her eyes looked more sunken and were surrounded by dark circles. He was charged with keeping her healthy and she had told him that things to do would help and so he would get her things to do.

He knew books so he went to her bookshelf and looked through the books on there. He didn't see anything that would interest him since most of the covers had pictures of kissing couples and bore names like "Destiny Entwined", but he figured she must like them and grabbed a few. He saw knitting needles (something he did recognize from when he was alive) in a basket of yarn next to her chair, but looking again at their sharp points he decided against bringing them. Though the idea of the girl stabbing him with a knitting needle was laughable, it was better to be safe than sorry. He went into her bedroom and saw a pad of paper and some pens on her desk and decided to bring those. That should be more than enough for one human to entertain herself with, Ulquiorra thought. Besides, being in her room was giving him a weird feeling that he didn't have a name for. It was a uncomfortable feeling though and so after grabbing the paper and pens he quickly left her apartment.

The next morning when it was time to bring her food to her Ulquiorra felt a little nervous. He hoped that he had picked things that she would like so she would use them and get her healthy glow back. Though he supposed if she really hated what he brought he could ask her exactly what it was she wanted him to bring from her house. When he entered her room he saw her at her window looking out like she often did. When he saw her like that, he didn't know what to say to her so he put her books and things on her table without a word and then went and stood next to her door again. She turned around at the sound of the breakfast cart being brought in and then her eyes fell on her table. She went over to it and looked through what he had brought and then looked at him. He just looked back at her and then she did an amazing thing. She laughed and said, "I guess I'll have to wait for the handstand." Then he really looked into her eyes and noticed that she was looking at him for the very first time without hatred and Ulquiorra tried desperately not to feel whatever warm thing it was filling his heart.


	8. Chapter 8

Ulquiorra started at the sudden knock on his door. He wasn't expecting to be summoned so soon by Aizen...his next report on Orihime wasn't due for two more days. He tried to quiet the uneasiness that had settled into his stomach and said, "Come in."

The servant opened the door and bowed. "Aizen-sama wants to see you now, Numero Cuatro."

"Tell Aizen-sama I am on my way." Ulquiorra told the servant.

As Ulquiorra walked to the throne room he tried to think through all the reasons that Aizen could want him. The most logical of course was that he had another mission that he wanted to send Ulquiorra on in the human world. Yes, very logical...so why did Ulquiorra's mind keep returning to the unauthorized visit he had taken to Orihime's apartment? Besides if Aizen did ask him about that, Ulquiorra had a very logical explanation for the trip. Aizen would see the logic too Ulquiorra was sure. After all Aizen had entrusted him with keeping the girl's health intact.

"Ulquiorra reached the throne room and took a deep breath and mentally calmed himself before pushing open the door. He approached the dias with what he hoped was seeming calm and then bowed low before Aizen. "You have need of me, master?"

"Why yes, actually I do." Aizen's voice came down from his throne. "I was hoping you could answer a couple of questions for me, Numero Cuatro. I have no doubt that you have a reasonable explanation for the little trip you took last night and I would like to hear it."

Ulquiorra raised up with his heart in his throat, but when he answered Aizen he was relieved to hear that his voice didn't stutter or otherwise betray his uneasiness. "I do, Aizen-sama. The reason I went to the girl's apartment for some of her things is two-fold. First you charged me with her care and she had begun to look unhealthy to me, so I thought bringing her some things to occupy her mind would help. Secondly it is part of my plan to insure her loyalty to us. By showing her kindness, I can change her beliefs about what we are. If she has a good friend here, she is more likely to be loyal to us and not want to leave."

Aizen sat quietly for a moment looking at Ulquiorra and then said, "You should have asked permission though."

"You are right, Aizen-sama. Punish me however you deem fit." Ulquiorra said, head bowed again.

Aizen sat studying him for a moment more before answering, "Not this time Ulquiorra, but from now on I want to hear all of what you are doing to brainwash this girl."

"Yes, Aizen-sama."

"This really quite ingenious and cruel of you, Ulquiorra. I'm not sure I expected it coming from you...causing some poor human girl to think that you actually like and care for her. Luckily for you, she seems naive enough to really believe a creature like you actually has feelings beyond hate and fear. I could almost feel sorry for the girl." Aizen chuckled to himself.

Ulquiorra's outwardly calm didn't betray the emotions he felt stirring inside of him. How could Aizen know anything about him? And then he realized that Aizen was creating things that he really had no idea about. Sure, along with the removing of a hollow's mask you got a humanoid appearance and intellect, but Aizen didn't seem to realize that maybe it also gave other human qualities too. Ulquiorra silently mulled this over in his head and decided that it might not end well for Aizen after all...if he didn't keep the tight grip on his minions that he did, his own subjects may very well be part of his undoing. Yet, that was all far in the future. He had certainly heard no stirrings of mutiny at this point in time. Still it was an...interesting...thought if nothing else.

"You may go now, Ulquiorra." Aizen called down to him and Ulquiorra did.

--------------------

When Orihime was done eating her dinner that night, she didn't immediately get up to stand at her window like she had always done before. She just sat there and stared at her plate, for some reason not wanting her guard to leave just yet. Maybe she was lonelier than she had thought.

"Are you done?" he emotionlessly asked her from next to her door.

"Yes...but...uh...well, you don't have to leave just yet do you?" she nervously asked him, not sure what his response would be. She was still looking at her plate so when he didn't answer her right away, she shyly looked up at him to see what expression he wore. She saw of course it was the same one he always did. He was just standing there looking at her. "Ulquiorra?" she asked him, using his name for the first time.

That seemed to cause some sort of reaction in him and he said, "No, I don't have to leave just yet."

"Will...will you sit down with me for a moment and chat?" she asked him already knowing he would refuse. After all, when had he ever chatted with anyone?

To her amazement he actually came over to her and sat down across from her...all silently of course. Suddenly she felt awkward with him so close, though she wasn't sure why. So to cover up her awkwardness she blurted out the first question that came to her mind. "Why did you become a hollow, Ulquiorra?" As soon as it was out she wished she could take it back, because of all the things she could have asked him that was probably the worst one.

He looked at her a moment and then said, "It is a choice isn't it? I tried to tell myself for a long time that I had no control over what I had become, but I knew it was a lie." Then they sat looking at each other a moment more and then he told her and she was amazed.

"When I was alive, people like me weren't looked very favorably upon. People that could see spirits, touch the other side as it were, were seen as deviants, insane, or worse witches that were in communication with the devil. It made for a lonely lifestyle on the fringes of society. One such as me couldn't find work outside of a circus freak show or maybe if you were lucky as the local witch doctor where though you might earn their dark respect they would never give you honest employment or ask you to marry their daughters. For me, I was the local laughingstock of the town. If I dared try to enter a pub where the respected locals drank, they would ask me mocking questions such as 'Come over here and look at William. Do you see his dead grandmother around him like you did last week? If you do, ask her where she hid her whiskey money! Ol' William is still looking for that stash!' And then they would clap each other on the back thinking that was just the funniest thing in all the world. And if I tried to ignore them and drink my ale quietly in a corner, they would try harder tactics to show just how unwelcome I was among them. I often found devil's eyes and such marked on my small house...once I found a black cat strung up in the tree in front of my house."

"Oh, Ulquiorra..." Orihime breathed.

"I could have bore it all for many more years I know, I have always been a patient man, and I had no intentions of moving somewhere else where I had no home to live in and the same trash to deal with wearing different faces. They had other ideas though. When a lot of the local livestock started dropping dead of disease they blamed it on me and I was arrested and found guilty, though the charges they brought against me were of a more mundane sort. I was hanged in the public square not two weeks later. I'll never forget everyone that showed up and cheered my execution like it was some sort of a festival." Ulquiorra said, eyes like green steel. "Of course after I was dead I couldn't resist sticking around and making life a living hell for those that had tortured me so. It was good to see them doubting their own sanity for a change when the chairs from the dining room were all found in the chicken coup and such."

Orihime giggled a little at that and then quickly stifled it with her hands.

"It's OK to laugh, Orihime. It was silly and petty of me to waste my death on such things. Of course the longer I stayed on earth as a spirit the more and more I hated them. I hated them all and I still do. It's funny really. There are so many human emotions that I have forgotten during my years as a full hollow, but the hatred and the anger...I never forgot those." Then he looked at her clearly finished with his story.

"Oh, Ulquiorra..." Orihime began not sure what exactly to say to him. "Maybe...maybe I can help you remember what other emotions feel like too...at least I'd like to try."

"Ok." he said to her as tonelessly as always, but it seemed to Orihime that his eyes weren't quite as hard as they had been before.


	9. Chapter 9

Ulquiorra softly closed the door to Orihime's room behind him, his heart feeling lighter than it had ever felt before. He started down the darkened hall to his own rooms when he was suddenly stopped by a whisper from the shadows.

"Pssst...hey Ulquiorra...how are things going with Aizen's pet?"

Ulquiorra stopped, dread and annoyance already knotting his stomach painfully. "What do you want, Noitora?" he hissed back.

"Nothing..." came the reply as a huge shape broke away from the shadows. "I just want to know just how much fun it is to take care of such a tasty girl." Noitora said licking his lips in a distasteful way.

"You're digusting." Ulquiorra muttered and tried to walk away from the tall Espada, but Noitora quickly stepped in front of him blocking his path.

"Aw...come on! I bet you get to teach her all kinds of things that no boy had the courage to teach her back home, huh?" Noitora tittered looming over Ulquiorra's small frame.

"You really have no composure, did you know that?" Ulquiorra said looking up at the arrancar.

"Hey?! I'm just making sure you are doing you job is all." Noitora shrugged. "Aizen did tell you to make sure she is loyal to the bone, did he not?"

"I have already discussed my methods with Aizen-sama and he approves." Ulquiorra calmly said.

"So you ain't gonna share with me, huh?" Noitora sulked looking longingly at Orihime's door. "What an awesome job though." he sighed wistfully.

"Don't forget, Noitora, I am the girl's guard. If you do anything that would endanger her health or mental well-being you will have me to answer to."

"Pah...whatever, Ulquiorra. Besides you have nothing to fear from me...I won't touch your precious pet. I bet human girls are terribly boring anyway." Noitora said as he sulked off down the hall.

Ulquiorra breathed a small sigh of relief at his disappearance, but it still greatly disturbed him that Noitora was skulking around her room. He would have to think of a solution to that problem.

The next morning when Ulquiorra entered the girl's room with the breakfast tray being wheeled behind him, he was greeted with the first real smile he had seen from her since bringing her to the palace.

"I'm so glad you are here, Ulquiorra! Today we get to start on our lessons!" she said excitedly as she skipped up to him.

"What lessons are you talking about, woman? I have brought your breakfast here for you to eat just like always."

"Oh breakfast can wait! Besides I DO promise to eat it later...it's just that I am too excited to eat just yet! Here come sit on the couch with me!" she smiled at him and motioned him to follow her to the white couch in the center of the room.

Ulquiorra, quite at a loss with how to deal with such an excited human, just followed her and then sat down on the couch. "What lessons are you talking about, woman?" he asked her again.

"Well you know how you told me that you had forgotten what so many emotions felt like? Well I am going to try to help you remember!" she told him out of breath.

"And how are you going to do that?" he asked her skeptically.

"Like this! OK! I was trying to think of the least difficult emotion to show you, but thinking about it...I think they are all going to be equally difficult for you." she said intently studying his emotionless face. "I know! Why don't we start with humor. OK...now concentrate on me because I am going to try to make you laugh."

"Ok..." he answered doubtfully studying her face back. And then he noticed that her cheeks were rosy again and the circles under her eyes were a lot fainter. _When did that happen? _ he wondered. _And why did it happen?_ Then he saw that she was contorting her face trying to make it look monstrous, though he wasn't quite sure why she was doing it. "What are you doing, Orihime?" he asked her seriously.

"Well...I'm TRYING to make you laugh." she told him a little crestfallen. "It doesn't seem to be working so far though."

"Ok..." he said tonelessly again, not sure what exactly she wanted from him. He watched her as she chewed on her lip, deep in thought as what to do next. And then suddenly her eyes lit up again.

"I know! Have you ever been hugged before, Ulquiorra?" she asked him excitedly.

"I don't believe so, though I don't remember much of my human life except the hatred." he told her honestly.

"OK...well first we need to stand up." she informed him as she stood up herself. He stood up too all the sudden very aware of how close they were standing together. He tried to step back and she grabbed his jacket sleeves and said, "No. You have to be close to hug."

"Ok..." he said very uncomfortable. And then she did something that made him feel like he was both dying and coming alive for the first time inside. She placed her slender arms about his shoulders and then pressed her warm body against his.

"So cold..." she whispered to herself. Then louder she said, "Um...to make this a real hug you have to put your arms around me too."

"Ok..." he was barely able to whisper. He then put his arms around her warmth and drew her close to his body. He couldn't resist trembling a little in her embrace.

"Are you feeling anything yet?" she asked him with her face pressed against his chest.

"Y...yes..." he stammered.

"Well what does it feel like?" she asked him, still not letting him go.

"Warm." he answered her. She didn't say anything else, but she didn't release him yet either. Then he noticed how close her beautiful hair was to his hand. He longed to stroke it like he had longed to do ever since he first saw her in the park with her hair shining in the sun. He hoped it wouldn't make her mad if he touched it, but the desire was so great... He reached up and gently ran his hands through a few strands and wondered at their silkiness. He ran his hand through more of that softness and he could feel Orihime gently tremble in his arms. At that little shudder against his body, he felt something else that he hadn't felt since becoming a hollow, he began to get aroused. Ulquiorra thought that such a sensation was really pointless because he had no need to sexually reproduce anymore and in fact was pretty sure he couldn't. Still he tried to shift his hips away from hers so that she wouldn't feel. Yet when he tried to, she just pressed her body right up against his again so he figured it couldn't be bothering her too much so he went back to running his long fingers through her firey hair and idly thinking how weird human interaction was.


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm giving you your notice now." Ulquiorra told Orihime as she ate her breakfast.

"My notice for what?" she asked him inquisitively.

"To mentally prepare. Aizen wants to see you again this afternoon." Ulquiorra calmly explained.

"Ok..." she said quietly and she stirred her rice. Ulquiorra could tell that she was nervous about the prospect of seeing Aizen again.

"It won't be like last time, Orihime. He told me that it will be just you and him this time. He has something that he wants to show you." Ulquiorra said trying to reassure her.

"That doesn't make me feel a whole lot better you know."

"At least this time you have a chance to mentally prepare for it, no?" Ulquiorra asked her.

"Yes...thank you for that, Ulquiorra." she said looking up at him.

When he came in the afternoon to bring her to Aizen he noticed that she looked calmer and was glad. "Ok Orihime, follow me."

"OK." She followed him closely and this time he did allow himself to look over at her a time or two as they walked through the palace. She looked up at him once when he looked at her and smiled nervously.

"Um...don't be nervous." he quietly told her, hoping it would help her feel better. It seemed to work too, because after that her stride evened out and she even swung her arms a bit. When they approached the door Ulquiorra turned to her and said, "He wants you to go in there alone. I'll wait out here for you."

She nodded and then opened the door with her small hand.

"Come in child and close the door behind you." Aizen's voice drifted out and Orihime did as she was told. Once the door was closed Ulquiorra couldn't hear what they were saying anymore, so he casually leaned his head back against the door so he could hear better.

"...a very unique power, Orihime. You can literally reject things out of existence. You can reverse time...make things like they never existed. Did you know that was what you were doing?" Aizen's voice came to his ears. Ulquiorra heard her soft voice, but couldn't make out her answer. "Well it is, it is!" Aizen's voice came again. "I want to show you something VERY special, Orihime. Something I have never shown to anyone else. Come over here. Don't be shy." With that Ulquiorra could here Aizen's footsteps echoing across the huge room. "Now this here is called the hougyoku. It is a very precious object. Why without this, I wouldn't be able to win this war. The fact that I am even mentioning this shows how much you have entered into my trust, Orihime." Ulquiorra then heard the snap of a lid shutting. "I can trust you, right Orihime?" A mumbled reply from the girl. "I am so glad that we had this chance to talk. You may return to your room now." Ulquiorra quickly got off of the door and stood away from it. Not a moment later Orihime came through the door.

"Follow me. I'll take you back to your room." And without another word he started walking back and she followed. His mind was a turmoil of thoughts though. Everything about Aizen's conversation with Orihime seemed fishy to him. He hoped the girl realized it too. Once they were back in her room Orihime plopped down on her bed and he came inside for a moment and shut the door behind him.

Orihime looked up at him and whispered, "I HAVE to destroy it, you know. He'll destroy Kurakara and most probably the whole world if I don't." She looked at him with her eyes pleading for him to understand.

"I don't think you should try, Orihime. It sounds like a trap to me. The way he set everything up. It was just to make you think of destroying it, I am sure."

"But, but...I'm the only one...the only that can stop him! Why did I think you would understand anyway? You WANT the world to be destroyed! I was stupid to think you would understand." she yelled at him from her bed.

"Orihime..." he began but at her name she flung herself face down on her bed.

"Get out of here! You have no reason to be in my room now anyway!" she yelled into her pillow refusing to look at him.

He thought about saying something else to her, but figured anything he would say at this point would only add fuel to her anger at him. So he turned around, opened the door and left.

--------------------

Orihime spent the rest of the afternoon crying and then moping and then finally thinking. She was still mad at Ulquiorra, but the more she thought about it, the more she figured he had the truth of things. She herself had thought that Aizen showing her his most precious possession after telling her she could reject the existence of any one thing was odd when she was in the room with him. Still...she just wanted to help in anyway she could to stop Aizen's madness. She heard her door open and saw Ulquiorra cautiously enter with a servant behind him wheeling her dinner in.

"It is time for you to eat, woman." he told her as without expression as always.

She waited until the servant had left and then she said, "I'm sorry...about what I said earlier to you. You were right. It's just that I feel so helpless here...I latched onto the first thing that I thought I could do to help my friends."

"You were right too. I do want Aizen to destroy the world." he said quietly.

She wasn't sure what to say about that so she just took her tray and sat down to eat her food. As she ate she looked at him wondering if he had changed at all from when he had first brought her here. She had thought maybe that he had for awhile. She still remembered the gentle way he had stroked her hair as he held her (And why oh why did she want to have him hold her again so desperately?) and he didn't seem quite as cold around her, but still she supposed he was what he was and there wasn't too much she could do about it. Still when she looked at him (And he looked back at her and...oh...and when did that start making her insides feel tingly and warm?) she thought he didn't seem quite as cold as he had. Was that just wistful thinking though on her part? And then suddenly (though she still wasn't quite sure why) it became desperately important to her to know for sure.

"Ulquiorra..." she barely whispered, butterflies whipping around in her stomach. He just looked at her and so she continued, "Um...lately...there has been...uh...noises outside my door at night. I've been scared being alone at night."

"That idiot, Noitora..." she heard him mumble under his breath.

"So...uh...I mean if you don't have anything else to do...would you stay with me tonight?" There, she got it out. And she sat intently staring at her plate, her stomach like lead, both desperately desiring and dreading his answer.

He didn't answer her for a very long time and she cursed the tears that started to form under her lids. She cursed him too...silently of course.

And then an eternity later, "Alright."

And then she was able to breath again, but with extreme difficulty. "Ok..." she whispered. "Thank you."

"Are you done eating then?" he asked her and she nodded. Then he called the servant to take away the trays and then he was alone with her.

"Will...would you come lay with me on the bed?" she asked him and she saw his expression very obviously change and she quickly ammended, "No...it's not like that. It's just...just that I thought I would be able to sleep better if you were with me."

"Ok..." he answered her though not as calmly as he normally spoke.

"Alright then." she breathed. She sat down on her bed and took off her boots and he watched her and then sat down on the couch and took off his. She stared at his feet, amazed at the fact that his toenails were black just like his fingernails were.

"Are my feet really that interesting, woman?" he asked her.

"Uh...no..." she said and embarrassed turned away. She laid back on her pillows and tried to breath in a normal way when he came and laid down next to her. He laid down facing her since he couldn't lay on the other side of his head because of the remains of his hollow mask. Then suddenly she didn't feel nervous anymore...she felt...safe. She carefully snuggled up closer to him though it was like trying to snuggle near a refrigerator. She didn't mind though. She very slowly reached out and trailed her finger down the vivid green line that descended from his eye. He closed his eyes and sighed at her touch. Then she snuggled against his chest and he put his arm around her and pulled her close. She breathed in his scent...he smelled like the dead of winter...and then closed her eyes and almost instantly fell asleep.

Later in the night she woke up to see the moonlight bathing his face. His eyes were closed and his breathing was deep and even. He had obviously fallen asleep after she had.

"So, hollows DO sleep." she whispered while gently brushing his hair out of his face. Then she just looked at him until she drifted into sleep again wondering just when it had been that his face had become so beautiful to her.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Ulquiorra slowly awoke, at first a little disorientated as to where he was. The room was as white as his bedroom was, but it smelled different and there was something warm and soft pressed up against him. He looked down at Orihime asleep in his arms. He ever so slightly smiled at the sight of her and then just laid there breathing in her scent, waiting for her to wake up. And at last she did. She stirred and looked up at him and then smiled brightly.

"Ul...Ulquiorra..."she yawned, still smiling at him.

Ulquiorra was reluctant to let go of her warmth, but he knew he had to get up and get back to his own rooms before he was missed. "I have to go now, Orihime, but I will see you soon when I bring your breakfast."

"Ok..." she mumbled disappointedly and untangled herself from his embrace. "You know, I think I warmed you up a little sleeping with you all night. You feel more like a spring day now instead of a winter one."

Ulquiorra didn't know what to say about that so he just got up and pulled on his boots. Then he went to the door, opened it and left her room. He got back to his own rooms not a moment too soon. Just as soon as he sat down at his table, a knock came at his door.

"Enter." Ulquiorra said.

"Aizen-sama has called an emergency meeting, Numero Cuatro. He requests your presence immediately." said the servant bowing.

"Ok." Ulquiorra said and then left the room.

Once he was in the meeting room he quietly sat down at the long table and patiently waited for Aizen-sama. The other Espada noisily came in and took their seats, eager to see what Aizen needed them for.

Soon Aizen, Gin and Tousen approached the table and the arrancar all quieted down.

"Welcome. I have very interesting and important news for you all today. It seems that the human girl that we kidnapped has some pretty foolish friends. They have now entered Hueco Mundo and are going to attempt to rescue her." Aizen said and the table erupted into chatter at that news.

So they are finally coming to get her, Ulquiorra thought to himself. His heart felt funny at that thought and he had to reassure himself that they were against impossible odds; there was no way that they would be able to take her from the palace.

"Quiet please." Aizen quietly said and the din died down. "Now they are indeed foolish to think they can stand up to the likes of us, but we would be foolish to underestimate them. These are the same kids that caused such an uproar in Soul Society. I want you all to just return to your rooms and patiently wait for my instructions."

"That's bullshit!" came an angry cry from Grimmjow. "Why should we have to wait around for their little punkasses? I'm going to go settle my debt with that fake shinigami now!" he spat getting up from his seat.

"Grimmjow." Aizen said with deadly calmness. "I would like you to take your seat again, please." Grimmjow just glared at their leader for a moment and then suddenly he dropped to his knees, eyes bulging from his face. He put his hands around his throat and gestured faintly. "Your seat, please." Aizen said again, a picture of calm and quiet. Grimmjow struggled desperately into his seat, his face rapidly turning purple. "Thank you, Grimmjow." Aizen said and then turned his attention to the rest of the Espada. Ulquiorra could hear Grimmjow gasping and wheezing across from him, able to fill his lungs again.

"Ulquiorra, you can still bring the girl her breakfast. The rest of you though, go to your rooms and remain there until I call upon you." And with that Aizen rose and gestured all the other Espada to do the same. "As long as we stand together there will be no enemy that can defeat us!"

--------------------

Orihime was starting to get worried about Ulquiorra. He was late with her breakfast today and that wasn't like him. He was the most punctual being she had ever met. She worriedly wondered if he regretted staying the night with her and was now having second thoughts about whether he liked her or not.

Then finally she heard the familiar squeaky wheels of the cart and a second later the door opened and he was before her. "Sorry I am late, Orihime. Aizen called an emergency meeting." he said and then turned to the servant. "Leave us now."

As the servant left and closed the door Orihime asked, "What about?" She would never have dared to ask him such a thing even a week ago, but so much had changed in the past week.

She felt him looking at her and then he said, "Your friends are coming to get you."

"Oh..." she breathed and then she felt her heart do crazy tumbles through excitement, relief, and sadness. She could feel the weight of his eyes on her, measuring her response down to the slightest twitch of her mouth.

After a moment of staring at her he suddenly said with all his former coldness, "It doesn't matter though. You belong to us, Orihime...body, mind and soul! You are still Aizen-sama's to do with what he will. I want to hear you say it!"

She could feel tears welling in her eyes at his sudden cold anger and she trembling shouted, "All that I have belongs to Aizen-sama and his ambition!" She then turned her face away from him and looked out of the barred window wondering where exactly her friends were.

"Very good, Orihime. And don't ever forget that either. Now eat." he said pushing a tray on her. She took it soundlessly and sat down at her table and slowly began to eat. Were they right back to the beginning again? she wondered. She was scared to look up at him and she thought that she must have had the truth of it last night. He was a hollow, a being of pure evil and there wasn't anything she could do to change that fact. Suddenly she desperately wished for Ichigo to come and get her and take her back home where things made sense.


	12. Chapter 12

Orihime was confused and restless. She nervously paced her cell...around and around. She was happy that Ichigo and her other friends were coming to get her, in fact she didn't realize just how much hope she had lost these past few weeks. When Ulquiorra told her that they were coming though, it was like a crushing burden was lifted from her heart. It was funny the way that had worked...when she had first come here she had felt the crushing weight of despair every day, but at some point she had stopped feeling it. She knew that Ulquiorra was the reason why and that hurt and confused her even more. How could he be so kind to her one day and then so cold the next? Plus though she desperately wanted to leave this place and go back home with her friends, the thought of never seeing Ulquiorra again made her sad. She played around with the idea of asking him to come back to the human world with them, but she knew he'd probably refuse.

She went again to her window and looked out of it. It had been half a day since Ulquiorra had given her the news and she wondered how much closer they had gotten in that time. She had begun to sense their faint reiatsu a little after he had told her that they were in Hueco Mundo. Aizen must have waited to tell the Espada of their arrival until they had reached the palace. She figured they had to be within it's walls for her to even be able to sense their spiritual pressure. She could tell who four of her rescuers were quite easily because she had spent enough time around them to recognize the feel of their reiatsu. The last one she wasn't sure about, but she thought it was Renji. She could focus in on Ichigo's reiatsu really easily...she had spent a lot of her time on earth just reaching out for it so she could feel it, so she could feel close to him. Ah Ichigo...at the thought of him her insides still went fluttery like they always did. She had honestly thought that she would never see him again the night she said goodbye to him and almost given him her first kiss. Maybe it was the thought of the loss of Ichigo from her life that had made it easier to like Ulquiorra. Yet now that he was back and coming to get her...well, just where did that leave Ulquiorra?

"I suppose it leaves him here, right where he belongs in the hollow world and me back where I belong in the human world. Besides, I don't think he liked me much anyway." she sadly said trailing her finger through the stone dust on the window ledge. "I'm not very sure that it is even possible for him to like anyone." She stood looking out the window morosely when suddenly she felt Chad's reiatsu suddenly flare and then die out. She looked around wildly, like a bird trapped in a cage and then screamed, "NO! Please! NO! Please Sado-kun! Just hang on!" Then she sunk down to the floor and sobbed miserably.

--------------------

Ulquiorra strode through the halls to Orihime's door with the servant pushing her dinner tray in tow. He thought back to how he had treated her this morning and felt an uncomfortable guilt. It wasn't her fault that her friends were coming to get her. She had been the perfect picture of compliance ever since her first couple of days here. He supposed he would have to work out an apology of some sort to give her. She deserved one, anyway. Besides soon all of her friends would be dead or captured and she would be all his again. He thought of all the long days and nights that he would get to spend with her and his heart felt better.

He had reached her door. "I'm coming in now." he called and then waited for her response. When she didn't answer worry started to prick at him. Any more she usually called out a happy "Come in!" when he announced himself. Maybe he had made her madder than he had thought with his outburst this morning. He unlocked her door and then slowly pushed it opened to find her staring intently out her window. Then she turned to him and his insides dropped, she had been crying and hard.

"I refuse to believe that Sado-kun is dead." she said looking him straight in his eyes.

"I brought your dinner. It is time for you to eat." he said hoping to distract her from thoughts of her friend.

"He isn't dead." she said with more determination this time.

He looked at her closely and noticed that her determination hid a deep pain. He wasn't sure why, but it angered him that she felt so much for one of her friends. Would she feel the same depth of pain if one of them killed him? He doubted it. His anger mixed uncomfortably with his pain at seeing her hurting. "Why do you care anyway? All of your friends are going to be killed by us. He was just the first. You better get used to it."

"Stop it..." she quietly pleaded, but he ignored her wanting to hurt her the way she was hurting him.

"They were stupid to come here and try to take you away from us. You should be angry at them for wasting their lives so. If it was I and..." Suddenly he saw her quickly step up to him and he saw her raise her hand and then she did the unthinkable. She slapped him right across the face. It stung his face just a little and he looked back at her and saw her hatred and fury again. The thought of her hating him again was too much and he quickly spun on his heel and left her room trying to get himself under control, afraid that he might cry and how stupid would that be...to cry over a little human girl. The moment her door closed behind him he could hear her crying uncontrollably.

He walked back to his rooms and laid down on his bed. Slowly, slowly he got himself under control. He was a fool to think that she ever liked him, or thought of him as anything more than the monster he was. She probably acted nice to him because she was lonely and he was the only one she ever saw. Now that her precious friends were coming though...well he could clearly see where her loyalties lay. And why wouldn't they lie with her friends? They were the people that she grew up with and had loved for years. What was he? Just her kidnapper and prison guard... Besides in stories and in real life, the beautiful girl always ended up with the hero, not the monster. The hero...Ichigo. He closed his eyes and felt for the boy's reiatsu. He found it almost instantly, huge and within the palace grounds. She loved him...and he was so close, just ripe for the taking. He thought just once of Aizen's order to wait for the enemy to come to them, but what did that mean exactly? They had already come to them, into their very home. Suddenly Ulquiorra sat up. Maybe if he took the boy out of her life, Orihime would be more inclined to come back him. Besides Ulquiorra would be lying if he didn't admit to the satisfaction it would give him to thrust his hand deep into the boy's chest and watch the life drain from his eyes. With that thought fresh in his mind, Ulquiorra got up and strapped on his zanpaktou. He then left his rooms, determinedly walking to where Ichigo's reiatsu fluttered and flared.


	13. Chapter 13

Ulquiorra saw him at the bottom of the steps. The boy turned up to look at him, disbelief clear in his eyes and Ulquiorra slowly stepped down.

"U...Ulquiorra." he stammered out.

"I don't remember telling you my name." Ulquiorra calmly intoned, now in front of Ichigo. "You have now lost two of your companions. It was folly for you to come here to rescue Orihime."

"What do you mean, two?" Ichigo asked him skeptically.

"Rukia Kuchiki has now died." Ulquiorra informed him tonelessly.

"That's bullshit! There is no way you could know that!" the boy angrily spat at him and then started off down the hall in the direction of her dying reiatsu anyway.

"Where are you going?" Ulquiorra asked him.

"To get Rukia." the boy answered back.

"Are you sure it is wise for you to go on without killing me?" Ulquiorra asked, trying to goad the boy into attacking him.

"You haven't done anything to my friends as far as I know, so yeah, I'm just going to leave you there." Ichigo called back almost all the way down the hall now.

"What if I told you I was the one that kidnapped Orihime?"

"You bastard!" Ichigo cried and ran back pulling Zangetsu from his back as he did so. "It's YOUR fault that Orihime is considered a traitor to the Soul Society!" He swung out and Ulquiorra calmly blocked it with his hand.

"You suspected that Orihime was a traitor? Though that was the impression I had hoped to make, I would have thought her friends knew her better. I've only known her for a month and I already know she would die before betraying you."

"I'll fight you, but now I am in a hurry so I am going all out first thing!" Ichigo yelled.

Ulquiorra thought he was going to just hit him with his bankai and so was caught off guard when Ichigo donned some sort of mask and hit him with a huge energy wave. Ulquiorra put out both hands to block it, but it still knocked him back with it's force. When he finally came to a halt, he just determinedly walk towards Ichigo again.

"So that is the limit of what you can do? Disappointing. I really don't know why she has so much trust in you to save her." Ulquiorra told a shocked Ichigo and then Ulquiorra let his spiritual energy build up in him until it felt like his whole body was on fire with it and then shot it all out at Ichigo. He then walked up to the boy that was now laying on the ground many yards away . As he looked down at him he said, "Surrender."

"I'm...not...going...to...surrender." the boy panted out struggling to his feet. "I'm going to save Orihime!"

As soon as the boy was on his feet and reaching again for his zanpaktou, Ulquiorra thrust out his hand and plunged it deep into the space where his breastbone met. "You will fail at that." Ulquiorra told him tonelessly and then let the boy drop. He fell to the ground without a sound and Ulquiorra watched as his bankai form dissipated, his body trying to conserve all of it's energy just to stay alive. Ulquiorra just stood watching him for awhile confused as to why the satisfaction he thought he would feel at the boy's destruction wouldn't come. It's not that he felt bad for the piece of trash that he had just eliminated, but his thoughts kept returning to Orihime and what she would think. "Why do I care what she thinks?" he quietly asked himself and this time he knew the answer. "Because I love her." Is this what love felt like? Thinking of another's feelings even before your own? Ulquiorra didn't like it, he had enough trouble dealing with his own half remembered emotions. "Well at least I won't have to feel them much longer." he told himself, suddenly realizing what he had to do to put his heart at ease. He walked back to his rooms to clean up.

--------------------

Orihime just lay quietly on her bed, trying not to feel or think at all. She just intently concentrated on what was left of Ichigo's reiatsu trying to will it to stay. "Please don't die, Kurosaki-kun...please don't die..." she whispered over and over to herself. When she heard the door to her cell open she didn't even turn towards it.

"Orihime, come with me." she heard Ulquiorra's voice command her from the door.

"I'm not going anywhere with you ever again. I don't even want to think of you ever again." she said quietly turning on her side away from him.

She heard his footsteps as he approached her bed and at that her tears spilled over and she furiously whispered, "How could you!? I know it was you!"

"It was. Orihime, do you want to heal him?" she heard him quietly asking her and she slowly, slowly turned to face him.

"Why would you want me to do that?" she asked him in disbelief.

"So he can get you out of here." She just stared at him incredulously and he went on. "I know the moment he is healed he will stupidly run off to gather those other two, and I am not going to be able to stop him. Yet I think I can buy you all enough time to get out of the palace. At least I am going to try."

At that Orihime finally understood what he was telling her and she shook her head at first unable to speak.

"Orihime. I don't understand. I thought that is what you wanted." he said to her.

"Ul...Ulquiorra..." was all she could get out and then fresh tears fell from her eyes.

"Don't cry, Orihime. I don't like the way it makes me feel inside." Ulquiorra softly said and then sat down on the bed next to her. She buried her head against his chest and weeped and he carefully put his arms around her and held her close. He again stroked her hair and knowing that it would be for the last time, he tried to memorize what it felt like.

"C...come...with us...please..." she brokenly sobbed against his chest.

"I can't, Orihime. I can't live in the human world." he said running his fingers through her hair. He knew she would understand why. She then pulled away from his chest and wiped her eyes with her hand (though it didn't do much good he noticed since new tears quickly replaced what ones she had removed) and then she gently took his face into her hands and did something that made the hug seem like a handshake. She closed her eyes and placed her lips against his. He closed his eyes too and pressed his lips back against hers. She ran her hand through his hair on one side and placed the other on his hollow mask. Then she opened her mouth, trying to kiss him more deeply, and he responded with his own. She tasted like tears and sweetness and warmth and...then he noticed that with every slight breath he took inward he could taste her very soul and feel it trembling at is moorings deep inside her. He quickly broke off and said, "I can't kiss you, Orihime."

"Hollows weren't made to be kissed, huh?" she laughed and cried at the same time. Then she laid against him one last time and whispered, "Thank you."

And then Ulquiorra who had spent a lot of time thinking and analyzing just what it was that he felt towards her, responded, "I love you, Orihime." Then he pulled her away and said, "Let me take you to him now." And then he took her hand (it was so warm) and led her out of her cell.


	14. Chapter 14

Orihime followed behind Ulquiorra as he took her to where Ichigo lay. She was very aware of his hand on hers and though she desperately wanted to get to Ichigo (Chad and Rukia too) and heal him, in a way she also hoped that this trek through the palace would never end. "Where is everybody?" she whispered to him as she noticed a lack of arrancar on the grounds.

"Aizen ordered everyone to wait in their rooms for further instructions. It looks like they all obeyed for the most part. We still need to hurry though. You never know when someone could get it in their head to come out looking for some 'fun'."

At last they were in the hallway where Ichigo lay dying on the floor. Ulquiorra let go of her hand and then went to the head of the hallway to see if anyone was around. At the sight of Ichigo and the gaping hole in his chest, her tears started flowing again. "Don't worry, Kurosaki-kun. I'll fix you up." she whispered to him in between her sobs. She placed her shield on him and then stole a glance to Ulquiorra. His back was still turned to her so she quietly took Ichigo's hand in her own and whispered to him, "Just hang on." It took longer than she expected because the wound Ulquiorra gave Ichigo was bound up with a huge reiatsu. When it was finally rejected, Ichigo opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"Inoue? What are you doing here?" he asked her faintly.

She heard Ulquiorra step up behind her and say, "She doesn't have time to explain."

"You!" Ichigo spat at the arrancar already getting to his feet.

"No! Wait!" Orihime said while pulling Ichigo back towards her. "He wants you to take me home! Let's go get Chad and Rukia!"

Ichigo looked incredulously from Orihime to Ulquiorra and back.

"If I were you I wouldn't stand around and wait for the next Espada who decides to show up here and test his strength against you." Ulquiorra told Ichigo and then started back down the hall.

"Ulquiorra!" Orihime yelled rushing after him. "Where are you going?"

"I already told you. I'm going to buy you time to get out of here. Don't waste it."

"But...but...what does that mean?" she asked him, afraid.

"It means if I am lucky, one of my deepest desires will finally be realized. Now don't follow, Orihime. Just get out of here." And with that he left her.

Orihime almost started after him anyway, though to do what she had no idea. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and was face to face with Ichigo.

"Let him go, Inoue. Let's get Rukia and the others! We're getting the hell out of here while we still can!" Ichigo said and then pulled her along the hallway to where Rukia's reiatsu was last felt. At first she followed him reluctantly stealing glances behind her at Ulquiorra's retreating back and then when she could no longer see him she turned around and she and Ichigo ran side by side to their friend.

--------------------

Ulquiorra strode to Aizen's throne room with purpose in his step, though his mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. He wasn't quite sure what exactly he was going to do, but he thought whatever he did would be enough. He could already feel the intruders' reiatsu coming together. He knew the others could feel it too, but he had a feeling they wouldn't quite know what was going on until it was too late. He hoped that they weren't idiotic enough to heal their friends on the premises, but instead would just carry them out. He looked up and realized that he had reached the throne room. Before he could even open the door though Gin and Tousen stepped up behind him. He reached for his zanpaktou but before he could grab it they clapped a double bracelet onto his wrists and he was suddenly cut off from his own reiatsu.

"Well, well, well." Aizen's voice came through the door a moment before he did. "You are probably wondering what made me suspect you. And you are right, at this point it is just suspicion, but it won't be for long."

At that Aizen reached out and pain flared as Aizen grabbed his left eye and pulled it from his socket. He bounced it in his palm a moment grinning at Ulquiorra and then he crushed it in his hand and then everyone could see Ulquiorra telling the girl to come with him and heal Ichigo and then her kissing him and then them leaving and then...

"That's all I need to see." Aizen said waving his hand in the air to dissipate the remaining images. "You disappoint me, Ulquiorra. I had thought I had given you all that you desired and yet you threw it all away for this human. And for what? She doesn't love you back and she will soon be in our custody again. You have failed and miscalculated at every junction of your little rescue plan. It's not like you. I would blame human emotion if I could, but I know you don't feel that. So why?"

Ulquiorra just stood and said nothing. Still he didn't think Aizen quite had the truth of it. He thought that maybe, just maybe Orihime did love him back and just hadn't realized it yet. And for that he was immensely glad. He had a feeling if she had realized she loved him, then he wouldn't have been able to get her to leave at all. It was funny, he was starting to understand emotion better after all this time. He had Orihime to thank for that. He...and then his thoughts were cut off by a searing pain in his other eye and then the world went dark.

"Speak to me when I speak to you." he heard Aizen's deadly calm voice just ahead of him.

Ulquiorra had nothing to say to him so he just stood his ground. Then he heard Aizen call out, "Szayel, come here. He is all yours to do with what you will, but I want him dead soon. I won't suffer his presence any more."

Ulquiorra could hear the pink-haired Espada giggle wickedly at that and then he spoke close to Ulquiorra. "So your greatest fear is death, huh? Yes, yes. Aizen told me all about it. Well I think by the time I am through with you, I think you will fear it no more. I'm going to make you scream real pretty for that little girl to hear where ever she may be."

Ulquiorra just stood silently and thought that if he held Orihime's face in his mind he would be alright and soon he would get his wish. Once his soul was destroyed he would never have to feel anything ever again. Though that thought wasn't as satisfying as it once was. Suddenly the pain began.

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Orihime was folllowing Ichigo closely who was carrying Rukia on his back. Renji was carrying Chad and Ishida ran next to her, worriedly glancing in her direction every once in a while. They ran fast, Orihime thought that only a few minutes had past since they had last seen Ulquiorra. Just as the tunnel that let out of Las Noches came into view they were stopped by two arrancar. Ichigo and Renji laid their respective burdens down and joined Ishida who was already running towards the hollows.

Ichigo called back over his shoulder, "Just wait there next to them, Inoue. These guys are small potatoes! We'll cut through them in no time!"

Ishida had already taken one out with his bow and called back to Ichigo, "Why are you even wasting your time helping me when you could be getting Inoue and the others out of here. You know that I am quite capable of handling these two on my own."

"Why should I let you have all the fun?!" Ichigo teased while delivering the final blow to the other that Renji had already started on.

Orihime smiled at them, realizing that she had forgotten just how much she had missed her friends and their antics. Then Ichigo was back next to her and picking up Rukia. "Next stop home!" he smiled at Orihime. Then suddenly the palace was filled with echoing screams. Ichigo and Ishida looked at each other and Orihime's blood turned to ice. She suddenly stood up and started to run back down the corridor. "What are you doing, Inoue?" Ichigo called grabbing her sleeve. "We have to get out of here!"

"I can't! I can't!" Orihime screamed and sobbed as she tore from his grasp. She started to run down the hall again, but this time Ishida (who wasn't burdened with a weakened comrade) grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder.

"Let's go Ichigo!" he said and they all stepped into the tunnel.

Orihime beat at Ishida's back gasping and screaming, "I can't! I can't leave him! You don't understand! I never got to tell him! I never got to...tell...him!" Ishida, who was worried she was going to hurt herself, almost dropped her and then Ichigo grabbed Orihime's hands.

"You can't go back! They'll catch you again and then his sacrifice will have been in vain! You don't want that do you?!" he begged her.

"I can't leave him! I can't! He doesn't know that I love him too!" she sobbed brokenly. And then the screams were brutally cut off and all was silent again. Orihime fainted dead away.

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Orihime sat in her apartment and stared out her window. She knew that there were people in the apartment with her. She could hear them mumbling quietly amongst themselves and every once in awhile they tried to give her tea or something to eat that she just waved away. None of that seemed to matter to her though. It was hard of late to find anything that mattered. Then she heard one of them mention Ulquiorra's name and her ears pricked up.

"...a horrible thing. To make hollows with the ability to feel human emotion again. What a curse."

Orihime wasn't sure who said that so she just looked out at all of them and whispered, "I don't think it is a curse and I think, though he might have argued otherwise, that Ulquiorra didn't think it was either. Not even at the very end." She thought back to his determined stride to what he must have known was certain doom and then said so quietly that only she heard it, "See...those emotions you so hated, they made you strong, not weak." And then she could feel the tears silently trickle down her cheeks and tried not to think about how they mirrored his own.

The End


End file.
